Obama thoughts, links and reactions…UPDATED

You know who you are: But I don’t. Two people have generously donated to the site and left me no way to send a personal thank you. Please know I appreciate it more than I can express. You help keep the site running.

The First Obama Joke: H/T Dan “Barack Obama won the election because he saw what is wrong with this country: the utter failure of government to protect its citizens.” — New York Times, The Next President. The New York Times is purely bananas.

Ruth Marcus: Will the Dems be able to resist overplaying their hand? See Dionne, Ms. Marcus. (Note: Ms. Marcus suggests Obama begin by “reversing President Bush’s order prohibiting federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, signing the Bush-vetoed expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and enacting an equal pay law overturning the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Lilly Ledbetter.”). Yeah…don’t overplay.

It is remarkable to note, however, that – finally – someone in the press managed to correctly identify President Bush’s position as “prohibiting FEDERAL FUNDING of EMBRYONIC stem cell research” as opposed to their usual, “he’s against all science! He’s against all stem cell research! He’s a Neanderthal” dishonesty. That only took 8 years.

From the email: An interesting quote I’d never seen before: “We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have Communism.” – Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev, 1959 Actually…I don’t think that really IS a Khrushchev quote. I know THIS one is, though: “If anyone believes that our smiles involve abandonment of the teaching of Marx, Engels and Lenin he deceives himself. Those who wait for that must wait until a shrimp learns to whistle.”

Tom Shales:The Press Behaved Badly last night. Well…they’ve been behaving badly for over a decade, but last night, even my husband – who does not care about this sort of stuff – had to turn them off for all their self-congratulating glee. He found it “infantile.”

Instapundit:Showcases the diff between lefties and righties rather succinctly. More distinctions here. Note: Also, no one ever thought for even a second that an Obama win would cause the right to “riot.” The same cannot be said for the left. I hope they’ll grow up, now.

“… — wisdom beyond your tender years, your thin experience, and your inconsequential legislative achievements — wisdom as a public servant in office, rather, that is at least commensurate with the skill you’ve shown as a campaigner, which has been a genuine marvel.

I pray for your health, because, with due respect, I regard the prospect of your Vice President-elect having to step into your shoes with genuine panic. “

Hope and pray you’re wrong: From an email: “I did not vote for Obama but I am afraid for him. I feel like whoever put him in place is going to try to make a martyr of him to create chaos in the nation.”

The Racial Angle:Still not gone, but reading that makes me think that now perhaps some racial issues will be addressed from “within” the African American community, itself, which might be a healthy thing. Introspection is always a good thing.